A Labour parliamentary candidate sent a string of extraordinary tweets peddling conspiracy theories about Israel, falsely accusing Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi of buying oil from ISIS and claiming Rupert Murdoch profited from the conflict in Syria. Caroline Kolek, Labour’s candidate in Tiverton and Honiton, posted a series of tweets where she also expressed support for Ken Livingstone and re-posted a quote entitled “I acknowledge Israel is the problem“.

Last week Zahawi was awarded a £338,000 payout after winning a libel case against Iranian state television channel Press TV which made the same false claim. When reached by Guido this afternoon, Kolek said she would “have to check” if she had sent the tweets and couldn’t answer our questions because she was “at work”. Surely this woman cannot remain as Labour’s candidate…

UPDATE: Nadhim Zahawi tells Guido he is lawyering up:

“This allegation is a libel and I will be consulting my lawyer. I have only recently won a libel case against Press TV, the outlet which originally made this false claim.”